The San Francisco Public Library Commission
held a regular meeting on Thursday, January 7, 2010, in the Koret Auditorium,
Main Library.

The meeting was called to order at 4:42 pm.

Commissioners present: Gomez, Lee, Munson and
Ono

Commissioner excused: Del Portillo

Commissioners Kane arrived at 4:46 pm.

AGENDA ITEM NO. 1 PUBLIC COMMENT

An anonymous citizen said usually on the
January agenda there is an item for the election of Commission officers. He
said in the past the December meeting had the nomination of officers and the
election took place in January. He said this year the President has been found
guilty of a willful violation of the Sunshine Ordinance. He said to return
Jewelle Gomez to the Presidency would be to ratify her actions.

Peter Warfield, Executive Director, Library
Users Association, said a review of library activities related to the Sunshine
Law for 2009 produces some unfortunate results.

President Gomez made the statement that item
4 the Branch Library Improvement Program Budget Transfers will be heard
following the City Librarian’s Report.

Ellen Egbert, Bernal Heights said the Bernal
Heights Branch library will be opening on January 30 and she said she hopes all
the Commissioners will attend. She said when you go you will see how beautiful
the interior of the building is.

Rachel Bernstein, Librarian Juvenile Justice
Center (JJC) and Dale Jenne, Librarian Log Cabin Ranch (LCR) gave a report and
said the JJC has 5000 titles and that it is a warm and inviting space. They
said they are assisted by a Page, Cindy Lu. They said that Rachel frequently
visits the living units and they explained the programs and goals at the
JJC. They said the LCR has approximately 800 titles. They said they
encourage reading for pleasure and/or education. They said there are unique
issues that are being addressed by a draft Memorandum of Understanding being
developed with the Juvenile Probation Department.

Jill Bourne, Deputy City Librarian, said how
lucky the Library is to have these two Librarians working on these programs.

Rachel Bernstein said the Study Hall at the
JJC is to help the youth work with volunteer mentors and work online to look
for jobs, or get a GED or other interests they may have.

Public Comment

An anonymous citizen said it is gratifying to
speak on a subject that can be universally praised. He said in the 80s there
was only a visiting librarian at the JJC and he is glad to see that has
changed. He said this is a very valuable asset.

Peter Warfield said he wondered how many
patrons or library card users are using these facilities. He said he was
concerned about the number of employees and the breakdown of their hours. He
said these programs should have the ability to have access to the general
library collection.

Commission Discussion

Commissioner Kane asked for a little more
background on the program.

Toni Bernardi, Chief of Children and Youth
Services said when she started in 1992 there were no services at either
location. She said around 1993 the Library started to send a librarian
occasionally to the JJC. She said they eventually hired a librarian to go down
to Log Cabin every couple of weeks. She said there is now a full time
librarian at Log Cabin Ranch.

Luis Herrera, City Librarian, said there are
about 2.5 FTEs serving the programs. He said the programs are an important
piece of the Library’s effort to serve the community.

Dale Jenna, Librarian LCR said she is trying
to echo some of the programs at the teen centers in some of the branches.

Commissioner Kane asked about the Memorandum
of Understanding and what sort of issues are being covered.

Jill Bourne, Deputy City Librarian, said the
MOU covers things like hard cover books and how much time the youths can spend
in the library. She said if there are disagreements between the two
departments the MOU also resolves how the differences will be settled.

Dale Jenne, Librarian LCR, responded to a
question from Commissioner Munson and said there are currently 12 youth at Log
Cabin Ranch and that number will be tripling by March. She said there has been
as many as 80.

Rachel Bernstein said at JJC there are about
20 young women and 100 – 120 young men.

Commissioner Ono asked about security.

Rachel Bernstein said wherever there is a
youth in the facility there is security.

Commissioner Lee said he did not know this
program existed and it is very interesting.

Luis Herrera, City Librarian, said there is a
budget for this program.

President Gomez asked about the titles in the
collection.

Rachel Bernstein said the collection is
ordered specially through the Library.

Luis Herrera, City Librarian said this is the
beginning of several meetings discussing the budget.

John Doidge, Chief Financial Officer, gave a
presentation on the 2009-10 Budget Adjustments and the FY 10-11 Budget
Priorities. He explained the Budget Climate for San Francisco and said the
Library’s revenue for FY 10-11 is estimated to be $7.1M (9%) less than original
FY 09-10 budget. He said the Mid-year adjustments will include reductions in
constrained labor cost, reduced books & materials, non-labor and other to
be determined equaling $2.1 million.

Jill Bourne, Deputy City Librarian, gave more
detail on the Mid-year Adjustments for Books and Materials including adult
periodicals, databases, branch adult, main adult print and standing orders,
children & teens, end of year cancellations and reduced processing costs -
vendors.

John Doidge, Chief Financial Officer, said
the budget timeline is similar to what they have been in the past. He said the
Budget submission is due to the Controller’s Office on February 22, 2010.

Luis Herrera, City Librarian said the FY10-11
Budget Priorities are: Services, Programs and Outreach; Library Collections;
Targeted Technologies; Facilities and Asset Management; Public Safety; and
Security and Workforce Development. He said the next steps are to receive
input from the Library Commission on priorities, monitor baseline revenues,
fill critical public service positions, budget review at February 4th
Commission meeting, and budget approval at the February 19th
Commission meeting.

Public Comment

An anonymous citizen said since most of the
shortfall comes from the property tax revenue side that means the library is
suffering more than other departments. He said there is a silver lining with
respect to budget constraints and that is that you have to get serious about
priorities.

Peter Warfield, Library Users Association,
said he is very troubled by the lack of certain figures including totals and
percentages. He said programs need to be looked at when the basic bread and
butter items are being starved.

Commission Discussion

Commissioner Lee said they don’t need to have
every item itemized. He asked about the $2.1 million shortfall.

John Doidge, Chief Financial Officer, said
the $2.1 million was based on the Controller’s Office estimate done at the end
of the first quarter.

Commissioner Lee said BLIP soft costs could
help reduce the $2.1 million.

Luis Herrera, City Librarian, said the BLIP
program still has obligations it needs to meet. He said we still need to
address the $2.1 million shortfall.

Commissioner Kane clarified that there would
be no layoffs.

Luis Herrera said there are no layoffs, but
there are a significant number of open positions, so it does have an impact.

Commissioner Kane said it would be helpful to
look at the numbers line by line with comparisons of real numbers and
comparisons with previous years. He said he would like to know how much is
paid by the library for pensions and health care for former employees.

Luis Herrera said there are some general fund
obligations and that could impact the Library’s budget. He said the Library’s
budget is made up of both property tax revenue and the general fund.

Commissioner Kane said his priorities are
core functions like having the library open and available for the public to
use. He said he thinks computer access to the public is critical. He said he
would like to see cuts from other than core services.

Luis Herrera responded to a question from
Commissioner Ono and said there had been approximately 7% increase in the
property tax for the last five or six years and on the general fund side it has
been 9%. He said last spring they began to see a decline.

President Gomez said the priorities grow from
conversations by the Commission throughout the year.

AGENDA ITEM NO. 4 CITY LIBRARIAN’S REPORT

Luis Herrera, City Librarian said they have
produced an annual report that actually covers 2 years. He said in order to be
green we hope that most people will view it on line, but there are a very
limited amount of copies available. He said this was done in conjunction with
the Friends of the Library and we should be very proud of it.

Anne Wintroub, Friends of the Library, said
the Friends are proud of this joint collaboration with the Library. She said
the theme for the report is being open and she read a small part of the
report. She said the Taproot Foundation lent their expertise to the production
of this report. She said the report serves as a model for colleagues across
the country to help them express the ways public and private partnerships can
achieve such tremendous results for the community.

Luis Herrera said last November a delegation
from Viet Nam including the Deputy Prime Minister visited San Francisco to
promote business and culture. As part of the visit, the Library received over
500 Vietnamese language/titled materials. He said Vice-Chair Lee Munson helped
us in coordinating the logistics and he also attended a reception at the Main
Library where we officially received the books from the delegation.

Brian Bannon, Chief of Branches said the
Physical Access Committee, which is an advisory Body to the Mayor’s Office of
Disability invited us to give a presentation on the BLIP program and
specifically highlighting areas of accessibility. He said they were also asked
to give a presentation to the entire Mayor’s Office of Disability on December
18. He said during the course of discussion with them they found out that the North
Beach Branch Library programming is currently not in compliance with Federal
and State law and not in compliance with the City of San Francisco mandate
relating to persons with disabilities. He said the library has been advised
that it must discontinue public programming at the North Beach Branch and we
are looking at relocating the programming.

Luis Herrera, City Librarian, said the Bay
Area Library Information System or (BALIS) has a grant program which the
library has applied for. He said the Library has received two grants. He said
we received $11,550 for the Library Accessibility Toolkit and $3,000 for Online
Training Tutorials.

Public Comment

An anonymous citizen said the Annual Report
says the Library provides free and open access. He said if you are an ordinary
citizen you can get a cheap Xerox copy. He said the Annual Report used to be
rolled out as a big deal and the Commissioners signed off on it. He said this
is the nightmare he has been predicting all these years.

Sue Cauthen, Chair of the Library Citizens
Advisory Committee, said it is good that the Library and the Friends could get
together to save some money on preparing this. She said the print is a little
small and the pages are not numbered. She said there is a back story on the
disabled access at the North Beach Branch. She said Brian Bannon gave a really
good presentation, but she said there would be access to the programming area
if the fence in the back was removed.

Peter Warfield, Library Users Association,
said the Annual Report is more of a sales pitch than it is a report. He said
he is very sorry to see that the Library has joined with the Friends on this
report. He said the report is filled with nice words which in some cases hide
or misrepresent what is going on. He said he did not see any input from the
Library Commission on this report.

Commission Discussion

President Gomez said she enjoyed working on
the report as part of the committee that prepared it. She said according with
the wishes of the City the Annual Report is available on line.

Commissioner Kane clarified that the Friends
will still be making their annual report separate from this one.

AGENDA ITEM NO. 5 LABOR UNION REPORT

Cathy Bremer, representing SEIU 1021, said it
is going to be a tough budget year and she hopes that with the really good
relationship labor has with the City Librarian and the administration that they
can come to an agreement when it comes to efficiencies. She said staff is
doing so much more and there are legitimate restraints on the ability to
continue to provide more services. She said they are looking forward to having
a good productive couple of years during this tough time.

Public Comment

An anonymous citizen said it is the first
time we have had a labor union report in a while. He said the issues addressed
while fascinating were couched in very oblique and well concealed terms. He
said what people mean by priorities is different for everyone speaking the
term.

Peter Warfield, Library Users Association,
said we have not had a report in some time and he agrees with the previous
speaker that a great deal was implied but not actually said. He said the best
search engine is a librarian. He said there are issues about the way in which
positions are being staffed and not staffed.

AGENDA ITEM NO. 6. APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES OF
NOVEMBER 5, 2009

Public Comment

An anonymous citizen said the minutes do
include his citizen summaries but they don’t show up where it would be
meaningful. He said on page one his comments were not accurately reflected.
He said on page two Katie Gough’s comments did not include a colorful story she
told about the Bernal mural.

Peter Warfield, Library Users Association,
said the phrase on page one the anonymous citizen referred to does not make much
sense as reflected in the minutes. He said on page four under public comment
under agenda item no. 2 his comment would be accurate if there were a few words
added at the very end. He said it would be more accurate to read “the Library
has not taken good care of the historic and artistic heritage of its
buildings.” He said on page 9 his comments on item no. 9 could be improved.

An anonymous citizen said the three comments
on the first page represent comments from people who often speak here and they
are very egregious distortions of what those people meant to convey.

Peter Warfield, Library Users Association,
said according to Roberts Rules of Order the Minutes should be taken first on
the agenda. He said we go through the motion of trying to assist you in making
corrections or in making the minutes more accurate in what has happened. He
said once again it is a charade. He said we will speak for three minutes and
the Commission will pass the minutes without change almost as always.

An anonymous citizen said San Francisco Librarian
John Philbrook recently passed away. He said John Philbrook was a library hero
and a hero of humanity. He said he was the librarian who drew attention to the
Main Library’s betrayal of its promise.

Peter Warfield, Library Users Association, said
that John Philbrook was a long time librarian here and elsewhere. He said his
memory includes one of the darkest moments of the library’s history. He read
from an article in the San Francisco Weekly about John Philbrook. He asked that
the Library Commission adjourn in his honor.

Motion: By Commissioner Munson, seconded by
Commissioner Lee to adjourn the regular meeting of January 7, 2010 in honor of
John Philbrook, a much respected children’s librarian who died during December,
2009.

Action: AYES 5-0: (Gomez, Kane, Lee, Munson
and Ono).

The meeting adjourned at 6:47 pm.

Sue Blackman

Commission Secretary

Explanatory documents: Copies of listed
explanatory documents are available as follows: (1) from the commission
secretary/custodian of records, 6th floor, Main Library; (2) in the
rear of Koret Auditorium immediately prior to, and during, the meeting; and
(3), to the extent possible, on the Public Library’s website http://sfpl.org. Additional materials not listed as
explanatory documents on this agenda, if any, that are distributed to library
commissioners prior to or during the meeting in connection with any agenda item
will be available to the public for inspection and copying in accordance with
Government Code Section 54954.1 and Sunshine Ordinance Sections 67.9, 67.28(b),
and 67.28(d).

These summary statements are provided by the
speaker: Their contents are neither generated by, nor subject to approval
or verification of accuracy by, the San Francisco Public Library Commission.

Item 1: General Public
Comment

Anonymous Citizen: Every
January you hold election of officers. This year your president has been found
guilty of a willful violation of the Sunshine Ordinance, and referred to the
Ethics Commission for determination of official misconduct.

To reelect President Gomez
would ratify her actions and send a message that Jewell Gomez’ actions
expresses the will and intention of the Commission. However, to vote
otherwise would be a vote of no confidence. Like all gangs, your highest value
is to stick together.

You have a vested interest in
protecting the Friends & Foundation, or at least concealing what fools you
were to give it money. This conflicts with your duty to the public, and the
idea that you owe a duty to truth.

You cannot ratify your
president, but you have to show solidarity to your gang. Your answer is
to invoke categorical irresponsibility and have no election at all.

It is a pleasure to speak on
something that is the object of universal praise, and I certainly have nothing
but positive things to say. I was a close friend of the librarian who did
it in the 1980's, when it was very much an “out-patient” operation, so it is
good that has changed.

Do the users have access to
the larger collection? Access to the larger collection is an important
aspect of library service. I also wonder what the “waiting list” might
refer to, since openness is an important aspect of library service.

What impresses me most is the
seriousness of the endeavor. What we call teen centers are often patronizing
and condescending. There is none of that here. This has a focus on
education, skills and the values of reading, so kudos all around.

Regarding Library
Preservation Fund planning, this cold day in hell was thought to be
impossible. The speaker claims the budget shortfall is due to the property
tax side, which suggests we are suffering more than general fund departments.

The silver lining with
respect to budget constraints is the necessity to get serious about
priorities. You and the Supervisors had serious questions several years
ago regarding effectiveness measures, and we never heard about it again.

If we really are facing
budget constraints, effective use of our money is the priority. What
sense does it make to defer expenses, if the deferral does not save us
anything?

With $12-14 million in the
reserve, we could refuse to care, but we have no assurances about the
future. In January 2008, the first baby boomer filed for Social Security.

What a nightmare. Does
the library commission consider this its Annual Report? It claims to
provide access but an ordinary member of the public can only see it in a bad
photocopy and needs the disability toolkit to read it.

Formerly, the annual report
was a serious aspect of the commissioners’ yearly function, and it was signed
by each commissioner.

Now the annual report is a
joint venture with the Friends & Foundation, put together by one of their
little committees, and arrives here as a fait accompli. It does not even
come before you, much less us. This is the fruition of the complete
nightmare of privatization. Even the essential function of the annual
report is a mere advertising tool.

It was suggested that your
conversation here constitutes the priorities of the library. I hope not.

This is the first Labor Union
report in a while, and the issues addressed were fascinating but they were
couched in oblique and well concealed terms.

What people mean by priorities
is a bit different to anyone speaking the term. Almost everything that
comes before you, whether it be efficiencies, openness, or universal access
contains some sort of ambiguity.

I wish that the comments from
the Labor Union representative had been a little more descriptive about what
she is talking about because those are real challenges.

The comments on page one,
from people who often speak, are egregious distortions of what was intended.

The anonymous citizen’s
comment about the provoked neighbor was actually about the much larger point
that you had placed your arrogance above accountability and that your capacity
for cruelty had become a badge of your success.

Sue Cauthen praised
Commissioner Kane for mentioning accountability to the public and emphasized
the importance of keeping faith with the public.

Peter Warfield’s thesis was
not just the lack of response, but that your silence was an endorsement of the
wrongdoing. If you want to fix these, you would say that the irresponsibility
of the library commission is shown by its refusal to make any response.

But your priority is to make
these minutes beneficial to yourselves rather than reflect the actual meeting.

_______________________

Item 8: Adjournment

Anonymous Citizen: San
Francisco Librarian John Philbrook recently passed away on
December 13, and at the supervisors’ meeting Supervisor Dufty
mentioned that he was beloved and his professional accomplishments. In
fact, Mr. Philbrook was not just a library hero, but a hero of humanity
who we are rarely privileged to have walk among us.

It was John Philbrook who
drew attention to this Main Library’s betrayal of its promise which was being
concealed and drafted a public letter to address the problems.

Shortly after he was
confronted with anonymous charges of sexual harassment. The library later
learned he was gay, and he was soon fired from the San Francisco Public Library
on child molestation charges.